-
CycleTrack and SDN are teaming up to make medical school admissions more transparent and accessible! Read the announcement to learn how we’re supporting the future of CycleTrack’s free application-tracking tools .
Step I thiamine deficiency.
Started by aspiringmd1015
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
Wet beriberi refers to congestive heart failure
Dry beriberi refers to peripheral neuropathy
Wernicke's encephalopathy refers to the triad of ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, and confusion
Korsakoff syndrome refers to memory loss/psychosis
(You don't need to really know the distinction between these two tbh, just know that they stem from the same etiology)
ALL of these are manifestations of thiamine deficiency.
As you know, alcoholics are particularly prone to having thiamine deficiency due to poor diets and interference of thiamine absorption due to alcoholic gastritis. Likewise, alcoholics with thiamine deficiency can manifest as any of the above clinical pictures. Indeed, Wernicke-Korsakoff tends to be much more closely associated with alcoholism, though EtOH use is not necessary for diagnosis. I would presume that alcoholics are more prone to the CNS manifestations of thiamine deficiency due to a superimposed alcoholic encephalopathy, though this is just my conjecture.
Hope this helps
Dry beriberi refers to peripheral neuropathy
Wernicke's encephalopathy refers to the triad of ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, and confusion
Korsakoff syndrome refers to memory loss/psychosis
(You don't need to really know the distinction between these two tbh, just know that they stem from the same etiology)
ALL of these are manifestations of thiamine deficiency.
As you know, alcoholics are particularly prone to having thiamine deficiency due to poor diets and interference of thiamine absorption due to alcoholic gastritis. Likewise, alcoholics with thiamine deficiency can manifest as any of the above clinical pictures. Indeed, Wernicke-Korsakoff tends to be much more closely associated with alcoholism, though EtOH use is not necessary for diagnosis. I would presume that alcoholics are more prone to the CNS manifestations of thiamine deficiency due to a superimposed alcoholic encephalopathy, though this is just my conjecture.
Hope this helps
^nice, nothing to add to those. I'll just add a side note that sometimes helps me remember what systems get messed up. Thiamine def depletes ATP due to it being a cofactors of dehydrogenase enzymes. So it effects highly aerobic tissues/organs like the heart, brain, nerves etc. that's always why glucose infusion makes it worse (use up more ATP bringing in glucose and turning it to G6P etc.)
Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
so if i have a dietary thiamine deficiency, i can have wet, or Dry beri beri, as well as WK syndrome? as well as me being an alcoholic, i can have wet and dry beri beri?
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
They are all just associated with low thiamine so anything that causes that can lead to those syndromes (most commonly an alcoholic). I'm not sure if there is a spectrum of severity I thought the korsakoff was irreversible whereas the wernicke's was (or maybe vice versa cant remember)
Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
i think i recall the goljan audio lectures saying something like, if its a dietary deficiency its labeled as beri beri?
Wernicke = acute
Korsakoff = chronic
Remember it by the order of the names
Korsakoff = chronic
Remember it by the order of the names
Or just remember Korsacoff = Kronic ( Corsacoff=Chronic) and "the other one is the other one" .
As Goljan said "just remember one" and "the other one is the other one". That way there can be no confusion!😉
As Goljan said "just remember one" and "the other one is the other one". That way there can be no confusion!😉
I kinda remember it backwards -- c in c-ANCA stands for Cyclophosphamide which is the drug of choice for Wegener's
.................................................................................................................................... and "the other one is the other one" !
